Seeing them look at one another without accusing anyone else, Aoto knew everyone was here.
"Ha, looks like you've all been working pretty hard!" Aoto raised his Zanpakuto. "I'll cut you some slack, then. Eight minutes instead of ten!"
The squad members were overjoyed and thanked Aoto for his mercy.
"Sever the light... Black Prison!"
He drew his Zanpakuto, and dark light spread around him. He fired a black orb at each squad member who had broken the rules, an orb that seemed to draw in all light.
Every squad member struck by one of the orbs found a little black room appearing around him.
Black Prison's effect was to lock its target inside a little black room.
And anyone trapped inside Black Prison experienced time passing at an astonishing speed.
One minute in the outside world felt like a whole day to him.
Aoto's punishment this time was eight minutes, which meant they felt as if they'd been locked up for eight days.
During that time, they could see nothing but darkness, hear no sounds, and smell nothing.
A normal person would start to suffer mental problems after three days in a little black room. For an ordinary Soul Reaper, it would take ten days to reach that limit.
Eight days was something they could endure.
However, although Black Prison's effect seemed very similar to Tosen Kaname's Bankai—and could even be used on multiple targets at once—it had an obvious weakness.
The little black room's effects could be resisted with Reiatsu. Using it on several targets at once meant Aoto had to withstand all their resistance simultaneously.
And if his target used a Zanpakuto, Kidō, or another kind of attack, it was easy to break through the little black room directly.
So the technique had no real value in battle.
It could only be used to teach disobedient subordinates a lesson like this.
Besides, they didn't dare resist or try to break Black Prison themselves... or 4th Seat Hyakume would have to resort to other methods.
And those wouldn't just hurt their minds; they'd hurt their bodies, too.
When Black Prison lifted after eight minutes, more than a dozen squad members were sprawled on the ground.
They were mentally exhausted!
They couldn't do anything at all, only endure the darkness... It was unbearably torturous.
During those eight minutes, Abarai Renji and Kira Izuru, who hadn't known about Black Prison, heard about it from the other squad members.
The squad members were all gloating, but the two of them were terrified.
Abarai Renji especially. He was in the 11th Division, so if he did something wrong, Aoto might very well punish him with this technique.
Just thinking about it sent a chill down Abarai Renji's spine.
Kira Izuru, meanwhile, gave his shoulder a gloating pat. "Good luck!"
Kira Izuru was very glad he belonged to another division. Even if he made a mistake, he wouldn't be the one getting scolded by 4th Seat Hyakume.
No, he wouldn't make any mistakes.
He wouldn't get into trouble as easily as Abarai!
From that day on, Abarai Renji not only worked extremely hard, but also became very obedient.
He even went above and beyond with the training 4th Seat Hyakume assigned him.
Everything about the 11th Division was perfect for someone like Abarai, who was determined to get ahead.
He even heard his Zanpakuto's voice for the first time during 4th Seat Hyakume's "Sword Zen" class.
That was the first step toward awakening his Zanpakuto, and the most important one.
Hearing its voice didn't mean he could subdue his Zanpakuto, but more than half the squad members in the 11th Division still hadn't heard their own Zanpakuto's voices. They weren't even close to having a chance to use Shikai.
Since he'd heard his Zanpakuto's voice, Abarai Renji received special attention from 4th Seat Hyakume.
After all, every Soul Reaper knew that the more Soul Reapers who could use Shikai, the better!
The older squad members envied him and often challenged him during training. He lost far more often than he won and got beaten up plenty, but he was happy to take it.
After all, his strength steadily increased with every fight.
The more badly he was injured, the more his Reiatsu increased.
Kira Izuru, who treated him every day, was genuinely jealous of this.
But just as Abarai Renji was getting ready to attend his monthly "Sword Zen" class, he was suddenly told it had been moved to the next day.
4th Seat Hyakume had to attend his disciple's division transfer ceremony.
Shiro was transferring from the 11th Division to the 10th Division.
Shiro's spiritual pressure was firmly established at the fifth level. Aoto told him not to rush his progress. After all, the surge in Reiatsu from Shikai would be enough to reach the peak of the fourth level. Even if his normal Reiatsu quickly rose to the fourth level, his strength after using Shikai still wouldn't break through to the third.
Unless he mastered Bankai, that limit was quite fixed!
There were Soul Reapers who could reach the Third-Class Spiritual Pressure level without relying on Bankai, but they were very rare.
Otherwise, why had powerful beings been so scarce before Zanpakuto appeared?
But those who managed to break through were, without exception, overwhelmingly powerful.
Shiro had heard Aoto talk about the history of Soul Society and deeply admired the original captains of the Gotei 13, represented by Captain-Commander Yamamoto.
He wanted to advance in the same way.
But Aoto didn't think Hyōrinmaru would be willing to wait that long.
After all, Bankai was the only way to fully release a Zanpakuto's abilities. Hyōrinmaru must be eager to come out and stretch his legs.
So Aoto told Shiro to try to persuade Hyōrinmaru during Sword Zen to wait until his Reiatsu naturally reached the third level before coming out.
That way, Shiro would be able to maintain Bankai for longer each time, which would benefit Hyōrinmaru, too.
Aoto didn't know how their discussions went. Still, it was a good sign that Shiro never complained to him that Hyōrinmaru wouldn't listen.
But since Shiro had reached this level of strength, it was time for him to transfer divisions.
Recently, while Shiro trained with Heavenly Weather Manifestation, Aoto had repeatedly heard the other squad members muttering among themselves.
Shiro had surely heard them, too. So when Aoto told him he could transfer to the 10th Division, Shiro accepted the news calmly.
The day after Shiro submitted his application to the 10th Division, its captain personally approved it.
When Isshin Shiba came over to handle the transfer, he was grinning like a flower.
Aoto couldn't shake the feeling that he wanted to punch him.
Rangiku Matsumoto was there, of course. She considered herself the number one person responsible for "luring" Shiro over to the 10th Division.
It was also worth mentioning that Rangiku Matsumoto had already been promoted to Third Seat. From then on, she would be in charge of Shiro.
Shiro was currently 10th Seat in the 11th Division. After transferring to the 10th Division, he would become 8th Seat.
It was like changing jobs. If the next job didn't offer a higher position and salary than the last one, why bother switching?
Still, 8th Seat could just about be considered a high-ranking Seated Officer. Shiro was only a child, and he'd reached this rank in the short time since joining the Gotei 13. Before, perhaps not many people outside the 11th Division had known about it, but after this transfer, he would surely become famous throughout the Seireitei!
Hitsugaya Toshiro was about to become known to everyone!